WATCH: Not Gautam Gambhir, Hardik Pandya reveals his childhood inspiration in cricket

India fast-bowling all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who was recently honoured by the BCCI in Naman Awards for 2026 alongside the Suryakumar Yadav-led side for the T20 World Cup 2026 triumph, picked former India opener Wasim Jaffer as his cricketing idol while growing up. 

Hardik Pandya on childhood cricketing idol

Hardik made his international debut for India in January 2016 in a T20I match against Australia. On Sunday, he was in Delhi to attend the BCCI’s annual awards ceremony. During the event, he took part in a fun rapid-fire round with well-known commentator Harsha Bhogle, along with fellow players Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, and young talent Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.

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When Bhogle asked the players to name their cricketing idol from their childhood, Hardik surprised many by naming Wasim Jaffer. According to him, the former Indian opener was someone he looked up to while growing up.

Wasim Jaffer's cricketing career

Jaffer represented India between 2000 and 2008. During that time, he featured in 31 Test matches and 2 One Day Internationals. In Tests, he scored 1,944 runs, including five centuries and 11 half-centuries. However, his international career was relatively short, but Jaffer had a massive impact in domestic cricket.

He featured for Mumbai and later Vidarbha in the Ranji Trophy and became one of the biggest names in Indian domestic cricket. In fact, Jaffer still holds the record for scoring the most runs in the Ranji Trophy. After retiring from professional cricket, he has remained connected to the game as a coach, expert and commentator.

During the same rapid-fire session, the other players also shared their childhood idols. Sanju Samson said his idol was the legendary Sachin Tendulkar. Meanwhile, world No. 1 T20I batter Abhishek Sharma named former India all-rounder Yuvraj Singh, who is also his mentor.

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi's cricketing idol

Under-19 World Cup winner Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who is just 14 years old, mentioned two cricketing legends as his idols, Brian Lara and Yuvraj Singh.

Lara, the former West Indies captain, is widely regarded as one of the greatest batters in cricket history. The left-handed star from Trinidad and Tobago played 131 Test matches and 299 ODIs between 1990 and 2007. He scored more than 10,000 runs in both formats and, at the time of his retirement, he was the highest run-scorer in Test cricket.